the ruler of the damned valley
by Satomi-San
Summary: on one of his rides pharao atem finds a myterious stranger and decides to take him to his palace...
1. Chapter 1

The Ruler of the damned valley  
  
Chapter 1 – The Newcomer  
  
It is in the middle of the night. Near the royal palace patter of horse hoofs is heard. Pharaoh Atem and two of his priests return from a long ride. At once in turn busy swirling reigns at pharaoh's court. Servants come running along, bow reverently and take the superior treasures away, amongst them cedar wood, gold, linen and gemstones. Whereas some bring the horses in their stables, others provide that nothing lacks their god, but he declines the wine and the food thankfully. Atem has more important things to do. Carefully he lifts a stranger of his horse and passes him over to a few servants with the order to take him into a quarter. They nod and carry him zealous away.  
Next morning the unknown young man awakes in his new accommodation. Somebody had brought him fresh linen and had put a little bread with cheese on the table. He dresses and looks confused around. "Where am I?" The room is not very big and only simple furnished. A bed, a table and a chair. As well only a little light shines trough the small window. A black cat whirrs and asks for attention. He picks her up, holds her in his arms and brushes her fur. "You are pretty..., he looks at her ...May you tell me where I am here?" The cat miaows something unclear, as if she wants to answer the question. Before he understands what she wants, it knocks at the door and a priest in a white garment enters. He surveys his guest. "My name is Mahado, he bows politely without losing the eye contact to his opponent, Who are you?"The stranger keeps quiet, looks sleepy outside the window. "I understand that you are exhausted, but you should answer my questions."Still no answer. Mahado sits down and tries again to get some information. His voice shows no sign of impatience. "Please excuse my insistent manner, but if you do not answer, we do not treat you like a guest any longer. Where are you from?" "What concerns this to you?! Nobody tells me where I am here!", he yells. Mahado flinches scared away of the angry twinkling eyes. "You are at the pharaoh's palace. We found you unconscious in the damned desert. If you can not entrust me your name, may I ask you what you wanted there? It is prohibited to go there, because every normal person would die." "What do you want from me?! And why to hell am I here?!" He has grabbed Mahados arm, but let off him immediately when he recognizes. He stands up headshaking. "It seems you can not talk to you...Tell me when you calmed down." He leaves the chamber. Only a few minutes later another priest enters. It's Seth. He's different from Mahado and goes directly to him. "What do you think you are?! Treat a high priest so impatient!""What invades you to lock me up in this room?!""Great!", Seth turns outraged away. "We saved your life and for thank we can not even speak with you! What a hillbilly we had captured if we can not even have an appropriate conversation with him...", he says more to himself than to the man, but even so loud that he can hear it. He looks again at the young man. "Tell me from where you are immediately or I am forced to use my own methods to get some information out of you! I am not as nice as Mahado!" "Than I call for knowing why I am here at first!"Both stand face to face now and naughty glance at each other. They remain lasting for several minutes like that until Seth slaps him and promotes him to the bed with his hit. "Do not risk it to look another time at me this way! You are only usual riff-raff which does not have deserved to be here! And you allow yourself such brazenness! You disgust me!" "...!""End! I do not withstand this any minute longer!"With a loud door slam he disappears.

"Where I landed here..." He let himself fall backwards onto the soft bed. "Will they kill me if do not talk...?"A tear is rolling down his face. "But how could I speak about something I can not even remember..." His hand encloses a small necklace which hangs loosely around his neck. He mourns about something, but is not sure what it is. Than he closes his eyes.

o his palace...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Audience with the pharaoh

Iare does not wake up until a servant taps on his shoulder. "Hey, wake up. Pharaoh wishes to speak with you."Still dreamy he looks at him, but stands up than to follow. He walks sharply through the long paces. They are decorated with different murals and here and there are some lovely made clay vases. Each one with a lot of small details and no one is similar to another. The nearer they come to pharaohs private chambers, the less people they meet. Without the guards of pharaoh, the king's loyals, whose number appears increased. Finally the servant stops in front of a big door. "Here we are. Pharaoh his waiting for you." He opens the door. "Please enter."Iare nods insecure. Every step into the room makes him more nervous. When the door is closed, he observes his new surroundings. It is a very big room...Of course it is. This is the pharaoh's chamber, he thinks. But what could the pharaoh want to know from him? Or is he angry because of this priest? A friendly voice pulls him out of his thoughts. "Hello. Nice to meet you."Atem stretches his hand out to welcome him gently. He smiles. Iare wants to grab it hesitate, but stops and prefers it to knell down in front of his pharaoh and bows to show his respect. "No, no! You do not have to! You are my guest." Atem pulls him up. "Your...guest...?", he repeats in an unbelieving voice. "Yes, my guest. I am pharaoh Atem. Please excuse that I haven't introduced myself befitting my station, but even a pharaoh needs some distance of this formal stuff sometimes. What?" Atem looks in Iares gleaming eyes now. Both blush a little and the oppressing feeling of Iares disappears. "..." "Mahado and Seth were right with you. You don't speak much, do you?" Iare contemplates himself. For one moment he had thought Atem was different. "What do you want from me?! What I am doing here?!", he yells at the pharaoh. "Calm down, calm down..., Atem places his warm hands on his shoulders,...Why don't you tell me your name first...?" "No! No before I got answers...!" "You want a response? You want to know where you are from? This is what I wanted to know from you...What have you done in the damned valley? Didn't you know it is cursed...?""This doesn't answer my questions! Why...Why have you abducted me?! You...You do not even know me!" He pushes him away in his rage. "Because...you could have died out there..."Atem could not feel any anger, even if this stranger was so harsh to him, as the pharaoh. In contrast he feels a little sorry for him. That was not all. Between him and this young man exists something like...an invisible link. As if they would know each other for a long time. But Iare is still insecure and shivers. Atem hugs him to take away his insecurity. "What is your name...?"After his soft voice reached his ear, Iare recognizes a strange feeling which grow stronger when he thoughts of Atem. He stops shivering. "Uhm...Call me Iare." "Ah...Iare...A wonderful name for such a beautiful person like you...""Have to say a divine being as you are!" "Mh..."Atem gives no response. Instead, he turns around to Iare and gives him a kiss on the lips. "Why have you...abducted me?" It is not easy for Iare to focus on his real purposes. Something other caught his attention, Atem whose hand is moving over his body. "Please...Please tell me...! I want to know!" Atem glances at him. "Mh...Only for your own safety. Somebody is hunting you. No need for worry any more..."He gives him another kiss. Iare, overwhelmed by his emotions, started to stutter. "Why...Why s-should somebody hunt me? I know only my name...""We do not know yet, but we'll find it out."Atem can not resist kissing Iare once again, but this time he kisses back lightly. "You are so beautiful!"They look at each other with a dreamy expression in their faces. Then Iare continues kissing the pharaoh's neck. They fall onto the big bed and caress each other. Atem enjoys the tenderness and relaxes. "You smell good Iare...""Really? I know my smell, but I never perceived it this way.""Mh...It's right...You hair smells like lotus...I know this smell so well...Iare...I think we met each other a long time ago...But...Every time I try to remember this, something..., he touches his head and closes his eyes,...something blocks my memory...I...I try to remember...but..." Suddenly Atem bursts out screaming. „Atem!" The pharaoh had fallen to the ground, lost his consciousness. "Atem! My Pharaoh! Please! Wake up! Atem!" Iare shakes his body, but he doesn't wake up. Atem groans slight. He is sweating.


End file.
